Google I/O 2017 — What do YOU want to know?

Every year Google I/O rolls around and us enthusiasts get excited about one thing or another (or in some cases, many things). This year we are lucky enough to have two sets of Ausdroid boots on the ground and as such hope to cover much more of the conference.

This year there are things which we cannot talk about yet but will become clear after the keynote on Wednesday morning (Mountain View time). At this stage though there is already an extensive list of topics that will be covered up on the Google I/O website. This entire post is eventually about what YOU are most interested in and what YOU would like us to poke and prod Google about but first I’ll mention the topics I am most excited about.

First things first two of my greatest loves, cars and Android are combined in the new Android powered car so I will definitely be attending that session. Unfortunately it will be on the same time as the “What’s new in Android” session so I’ll point Dan in the “What’s new in Android” direction. I touched on the new Android powered cars coming to market this morning in a post I wrote while waiting for the Caltrain to take me to our Mecca, Mountain View.

Alongside these is also a session titled “What’s new in Firebase“, which may not interest many of you but gives possible direction of where Google want to see within our apps in the future. In yet another conflict the “What’s new in Google’s IoT” is on at the same time. If only Google owned a website where they could stream all these sessions and we could catch up on them later using — oh wait — YouTube. Yes, every session will be streamed on YouTube and will be able to be accessed from the Google I/O website.

Accessibility is one of those things in Android that does not get the kudos it deserves. The ability of it to extend Android to everyone is unappreciated in my opinion. In the “What’s new in Accessibility” we will also be hearing about the new bits and pieces being incorporated into it in the next version of Android.

Today I went into a Verizon store to check out the LG Sport. Not there. Not stocked and not even in their database anymore. Makes the watch a hard sell but other companies are picking up the slack left by Google and LG and their insipid offerings this year. That is why the Android Wear session on day 2 will be one I will definitely be attending.

Alongside all of these sessions there are the usual app design, security and mobile payments. There will also be focus on expanding Android to the next billion users and how to make money from Android — after-all it is actually a conference for developers. There are also a lot of sessions not announced yet but will be directly after the keynote — don’t want to spoil the keynote do we?

There are a multitude of sessions that I have not even mentioned. We will have a lot of access to Googlers in the time of the conference so please look carefully through the Google I/O website and think about any question you would like answers. No matter how tough the question we will ask it so feel free to sound off below in the comments. We can also be contacted via email if you have more detailed questions you would like us to follow up on.

Here is your chance to ask Google the nitty gritty details of something that either interests you or has bothered you so get to it — read the website and comment below. You have roughly 36 hours, get cracking.

Scott Plowman Associate Editor

Scott is our modding guru - he has his finger on the pulse of all things ‘moddable’, pointing us towards all the cutting edge mods hacks that are available. When he’s not gymming it up, or scanning the heck out of Nexus devices, you'll find him on the Ausdroid Podcast.

Outside of Ausdroid, Scott's a health care professional and lecturer at a well known Victorian university.

Three main questions: 1) Are they going to stop thinking they are apple, sack the FO who came up with the idea of overpricing like them, and start pricing their goods appropriately again? 2) Are they going to stop thinking the world ends at the shores of the US and get their fingers out in rolling out speedily and effectively (and without a markup)? 1 year total is about the maximum for a rollout globally. 3) Are they going to take it seriously, stop leaving things half done and half arsed; stop internal fighting (multiple messengers); and focus on fixing… Read more »

There’s a lot of things that could be changed for the better to make the Android experience a lot better. Cheaper Pixels would be great, getting their messaging message (woops, bad pun) straight would be great, and looking at more global solutions instead of US-centric would be absolutely wonderful. However, I just don’t see Google changing any of those things overnight.

Certainly the global thing is hard when it comes to service with a lot of required partners. Like for instance YoutubeTV…thats probably never going to happen here as far as I can imagine. Even just getting all the FTA networks on board would be hard given they rather push their own Freeview brand.

I guess a lot my interest is in expansion of existing things into Australia (like google home or 4k movies on google play movies).

Otherwise though I’m interested in Android wear and whether they are going to get into health like Apple has been doing (as opposed to fitness), and how AndroidTV is getting updated such as with adding Assistant.